A wet and shirtless David Beckham was photographed by Doug Inglish for the cover of Elle UK’s July issue in what is apparently their nod to the 2012 Olympic games. This issue also marks the first time a man has appeared solo on the cover of Elle UK. It looks like Beckham is so photogenic the Elle UK team had trouble settling on a cover shot, so in the end there are two newsstand covers and a subscriber cover.

“It's pretty cool of Elle to put a guy on the cover,” wrote YoninahAliza. “It's a nice little nod to the Olympics too by having an athlete on the cover,” she added.

Miss Dalloway posted, “I expected something more ‘pretty’ or safe, but this is rather edgy for Elle… with someone this photogenic they really [would have] to go out of their way to ruin it; I thought they still might, but this is very good. There is one thing about this that I wish they would do with women as well though,” she pointed out. “He isn't airbrushed out of his mind, the abs are not pumped up, the wrinkles are there!”

Wrinkles, tattoos, weird eyebrow action and all, this is not a bad set of covers for David Beckham and Elle UK.

TheFashionSpot's Forum Buzz editor, Chrissy Makkas, has been a member and moderator of the tFS forums since early 2005. She regularly reports on hot topics and up-to-the-minute commentary from the forums, and highlights what trendsetting members are shopping for and wearing from week to week in her popular "What We Bought" and "Forum Street Style" features. You can find ChrissyM in the forums here.